Recordings
by fabricatedadventures
Summary: While on a recon and report mission, Team JNPR cross paths with an unknown boy with surprisingly fast movements. After a near-death experience, they discover who he is and why he's after the team's biggest target right now : Roman Torchwick. (slight RenxNora)
1. Torchwick

The air gives off a slight scent of roses mixed with oil. The grass is green, however the atmosphere gives the illusion of gray dirt, and the sky is a darkened blue.

As our heroes begin to recon the area, staying close to the shadows, they notice there is no one around. The place had been deserted.

"Are you sure we're in the right area?" One of the team members asked.

"Only one way to find out." The leader stepped into the light, revealing his flowing blonde hair and scrawny look. He began walking around, scanning the lonely compound, when-

BUMP!

"Oh man, I'm so sorry! Gotta watch where I'm going sometimes. Are you alright?" A hand reaches for the fallen boy. He grabs it, and Jaune helps him up.

"What are you doing here all alone? It's not safe."

"I guess I was... strolling in the neighborhood and got lost?" The boy seemed like he went through some tough times, and Pyrrha took notice. His clothes were torn, and he wore no shoes. He had a hoodie which, although bright in it's light grey color, was very tattered. The hood covered not only his head, but nearly his eyes too.

"This is an abandoned town. How could you be just, 'strolling' and end up here? Where's your family?"

"They're back over in the next town. I was actually told to come here and gather some vegetables for supper!"

Team JNPR looked confused, and eventually Ren spoke up.

"...At 11pm?"

"... Yeah, we eat pretty late!" By this point, they could all tell the boy was lying.

"Right... Well look, it's not safe here. Or at least, it won't be very soon. You need to run along, okay?"

"Hey, I'm not some child! I'm the same age as you guys probably are!" That line shocked Team JNPR, as he was as tall as Ruby. However, thinking about it moreover, they're not so surprised.

Suddenly, a machine starts up in the distance! Nora and Ren turn around and listen for where it's coming from.

"I smell trouble!"

"You only smell food, Nora."

"That too!" Nora takes a step forward, and turns back to Jaune.

"We don't have any more time to waste! We have to stop Roman before he finishes his plan!"

 _Roman._

"Did you guys just say, Roman? As in, Roman Torchwick?" The boy looked concerned.

"Yeah, do you know him? He's been plotting something evil for awhile now, and has enlisted the help of the-"

"White Fang."

"-Yes, the White Fang, in order to further his plans. That's surprising, I didn't know anyone outside of Beacon knew who Roman is."

"Would it be alright if I went with you guys?" The boy looked down, his brows thickened and bent downwards.

"I don't think that's the best idea. You see, we're trained to fight Grimm, as well as other people. You don't have a weapon."

Team JNPR ran ahead, with Ren last. He turns around and tells the boy,

"Don't follow us."

They then disappeared into the nearby woods, leaving the boy alone.

"Is this where the noise came from?" Nora exclaimed with excitement, albeit very quietly in order to maintain cover.

"It should be. Let's hope all of the intel Sun and Team SSSN gave us pays off." Jaune replied. It was one of the many factories raided by the White Fang prior to Roman's involvement with both them and the unknown faction. Jaune motioned for Ren.

"Scan the perimeter, Ren. Take note of all exits and vehicles."

"Got it." Ren moved swiftly into the dark, climbing his way around the facility, paying careful attention to the exits. There were two, one on the eastern side of the building, closest to the two airships (the only mode of transportation in the building), and one in the back of the building, probably as a transport route for boats and ships. He also spotted plenty of White Fang members, but not Roman himself.

Once Ren returned and gave his details, Jaune devised a plan.

"We can't strike until we know Roman is in there. Otherwise, Ozpin told us to just recon and report."

"There's a main office inside the building, although on the side opposite to us. We'd have to fight our way through, but that might be where Roman is," Ren pointed out.

Thinking through, Jaune was peckish for Team JNPR to show their colors in battle, regardless of where Roman was.

"It'll have to be our best guess. Pyrrha, Nora, you girls are front line. Try to gather all of the White Fang into one area. Then, Ren and I will sneak past them and attack Roman head on. With the two of us, it'll overwhelm him."

"Got it!" Nora was excited as ever.

"Oouhh, you stay safe, okay Ren? I don't want anything to happen to you! Especially since I would be so heartbroken if anything happened to you, I mean it's important for us to stay healthy together right? Well I mean, not _together_ together..." Her eyes filled with passion, similar to romancing heart eyes. Ren paid it no mind.

"Okay Team JNPR... Let's do this."

Pyrrha and Nora drop in through the skylights, and sound the alarm inside the building.

As Nora begins swinging her hammer towards oncoming White Fang members, Pyrrha uses her Polarity semblance to take apart one airship, and place the pieces of it onto the building's rear entrance, making it impossible to escape through there. She then joins Nora in battle.

"Ren, now!"

Ren and Jaune begin sprinting on the other side of the building towards the main office. They reach inside, and realize he isn't there!

"Jaune, the ladder!"

Up a very tall ladder inside the office, Roman closes the hatch to the roof. Desperately, they climb the ladder in order to catch him.

Ren is the first one to reach the top. He opens the hatch, and is immediately greeted by a blast from Roman's cane. Ren is sent back, and Jaune finally notices.

"Ren!"

"Hello Blondie, I didn't realize you'd be here!" Roman hits Jaune with his cane, to which Jaune blocks with his shield.

"We're here to take you down!"

"Really? Well, you should tell Ozpin not to send a KID-"

He kicks Jaune back.

"-to do a MAN's job!" He blasts Jaune's shield, and Jaune falls back. He stands back up, sword in hand, and begins to brawl the red-haired menace.

He swings towards his head, which Roman blocks, but follows it with a swift swing of his shield into his chest! It connects, and Roman grunts.

"Nice play." Roman shoots at his feet, however, and Jaune is sent back.

Ren is next to bat, and he moves swiftly around Roman. Almost enough for Roman to be unable to tell where he is.

Almost.

He throws a fist towards his left shoulder, and it hits Ren! In retaliation, Ren shoots his pistols as he flies back, but ends up falling through a skylight, onto a White Fang member!

"Ren!"

"I'm fine, but we need to get back up to Jaune! He's up there alone against Roman!"

Jaune gets up, and can guess his aura is almost completely depleted.

"I can't... give up now!" Roman attacks with his cane more, and Jaune, although blocking most attacks, cannot react fast enough! Soon enough, Jaune is so weak, he falls to his knees.

"Yeah, no, you should probably give up, kid." He points his cane to Jaune's forehead.

Suddenly, a shot coming from seemingly nowhere knocks Roman's cane out of his hand!

"Roman Torchwick!" Both Roman and Jaune turn their heads to the voice. It's the boy! His outfit is different. His hoodie is a dark blue, and it covers his eyes. there are broken iron chains on his wrists, and his pants are a stellar dark shade of gray! This was no ordinary costume, this clearly indicates the boy is a member of a school.

"We have unfinished business, old man."

"Okay, first, I'm not THAT old. Second, how the hell do you keep finding me, kid?"

Suddenly, the boy disappears. He reappears next to Roman, and begins attacking! His weapons are claws, oddly similar to a comic book character's. However, his claws have pistol grips! He gives three quick shots to Roman's chest as he spirals arouind him.

He knocks Roman around, and seems to be having the upper hand! But by surprise, he slips over Roman's cane, sending it back towards him.

"Thanks, weakling!" He shoots the boy, and it's a direct hit! He's sent flying to the edge of the roof.

Just as Roman pulls back, an airship appears from under the building! It's the other plane, not destroyed by Pyrrha.

"Thanks for the warmup, guys. But I gotta run!" He steps inside of the airship, just as Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora catch up. Nora shoots her grenades at Roman, but surprisingly the White Fang uses shields to block the attack!

"Those shields..." Jaune stands up. They are shaped, and in fact stored, the same way as Jaune's unique sword and sheath from the Great War.

"Why... Why do they look like my shield?..." Jaune begins to feel uneasy, to which Pyrrha catches him as he begins to topple over. The airship gets away.

"We have to report back to Ozpin."

"Right," Ren replied.

"But first..." They all take a step back, and realize the boy is lying at their feet behind them.

"We have to treat his injuries. He took a blast of Roman's cane straight-on. He's got to be hurting." Jaune stepped over to him, and examined his unconscious body. There was a wallet sticking out of his jacket pocket. At first, Jaune was hesitant to pick it up. But as he reached for it a second time, Nora had already nabbed it. She suddenly looked shocked.

"Nora?"

"He's a student at Beacon! A first year!"

"A classmate?"

"Then we have to get him back to his team. Ren, help me carry him." The two boys picked him up, and made the stunning realization that he's heavier than he looks.

"Don't you worry. We'll get you back to Beacon... Wait, what was his name?"

 **Hello everyone! This is pen-man-person PlusOne here. I hope you enjoyed the first in hopefully many chapters of my first RWBY fanfiction!**

 **I've written many fanfictions before, however due to my laziness I've actually not finished any of them... If you enjoyed my penmanship, please check out my Negima! fanfiction, as well as my Angel Beats fanfiction! They aren't complete, and in all honesty I'm thinking of dropping the Angel Beats fanfiction, but they're good enough to advertise!**

 **In the next coming weeks, due to the hype for RWBY Volume 4, I'll be sure to update this fanfic more often, and hopefully create a whole series. Perhaps someone could help me with a drawing if my story gets big enough? Who knows!**

 **My biggest goal as of right now is to write my own book; story, characters, the works!**

 **So I hope you tune in next time (which hopefully won't take 2 years), and I'll see you then!**

 **Next Time, on Recordings!**

 **Who is this mysterious boy? He's a Beacon student, but Team JNPR has definitely never seen him around before. Why is he here? How is he so fast? When will Ren finally understand Nora's deep and passionate affection for him?! Hopefully these questions will be answered, in Chapter 2 :**

 **An Underwhelming Introduction**


	2. An Underwhelming Introduction

"Reko Permista," Nora replied.

 _What a strange name_ , Jaune thought. However, his name was not important. What he was doing in an abandoned part of Vale was. He was alone, without his team, trying to take on Roman Torchwick? Did Ozpin allow this? Why did he look so... homeless at first? Questions raced through Jaune's mind as they carried him through campus.

"Jaune?" He turned his head, and saw the familiar face with gray hair.

"Professor Ozpin!"

"I see you've returned from your reconnaisance mission. Who is this?" He noticed the boy being carried by both Jaune and Ren. The color of his clothing was unrecognizable to him, and his face was hidden by the broad shoulders of the boys. He took note of his small complexion.

Ren and Jaune were fast to retaliate his question. Should they tell him he snuck out of the academy to go on a death wish mission alone without his team? Perhaps Ozpin sent him out as a scout to warn Team JNPR of oncoming threats? They didn't want to take the chance of Ozpin getting upset at them for any reason.

"He's... an outsider! We found him on our way back from our mission, and he was really hurt. Would it be alright for us to nurse him back to health? He'll be gone ASAP!" Pyrrha responded. She was quick on her wits to realize the situation, and replied faster than the other members of the team could.

"An outsider? It might be best for the nurses at the office to heal him-"

"We can assure you, Professor Ozpin. Before we arrived here, he awoke and told us that he doesn't trust anyone else to heal him than us, since we were the first ones to arrive to him since his injury..."

 _..."You aren't like the others I've met out here. You're nice, you're helping me. Please... Take care of me. You four alone..."_

"...Something like that!..." After Pyrrha's attempt, Nora chimed in.

"You wouldn't want him to wake up and just start attacking the nurses due to shock, right Professor?"

"... I suppose not." Ozpin took a sip of his iced coffee, the cubes swirling around in his cup as he shook it.

"I give you permission to care for him. However, since he is an outsider, this technically isn't allowed. I will make an exception, albeit he is now your responsibility." He pointed his cane at Jaune, and continued to point it at the eyes of every other member.

"If I hear about a random boy causing mayhem inside of my school, I won't be held responsible if Glynda took appropriate action and gave reasonable punishment for you four."

Even after hearing the risks, Team JNPR looked as ecstatic as ever.

"You won't regret this, Ozpin!"

"Thank you for having this trust in us, Professor." Ren gave a slight bow. They walked past him, making sure they had a firm grip on the boy so he wouldn't fall. They walked him to the team's dorm room, staying extra careful incase anyone across the dorm room heard the noise.

They placed him inside Jaune's bed, and Pyrrha took a glance at his wounds.

"They are really bad. The biggest problem is that it's internal bleeding. Although his clothing and aura blocked the blow, it was still a direct hit from Roman's cane. It might take him a couple of days to heal." Ren, being the health-freak of the group, began concocting recipes in order to quicken his healing. Nora watched with intent, so starstruck to see Ren working hard. She booped him on the nose before walking out of the dorm with Jaune and Pyrrha.

"Nora, let me see his wallet again." Searching through it, Jaune isn't able to find anything else about him.

"Did he have his scroll on him? Maybe it'll tell us more?" Jaune turned to Nora. She shrugged in response. At this point, Ren had stepped outside too to join the conversation.

"Okay, let's go over the basics."

"His name is Reko. He's apparently a student at Beacon, yet has no scroll. He's small, and yet-"

"Formidable. He's easily a trained fighter, and not some amateur." Ren placed his hand on his chin, with a concerned look on his face.

"We need to help him."

"With what, exactly? Last time I checked, he kept his true nature in the shadows until he had to save Jaune from Roman!" Pyrrha expressed discomfort.

"... Well first things first. We need to help him back onto his feet. Then we can deal with this claw menace."

"What claw menace?" The door had opened up across the hall, and a black haired figure stepped out.

"Eep!" Nora let out a squeal and jumped into Ren's arms. He quickly let go of her.

"Blake! Hey!" Jaune tried to stay cool.

"What's... up?" Jaune asked. Blake gave them all a cold stare, and proceeded to speak.

"The sky?... Okay, whatever. Just tell me, what claw menace?" Before Jaune could think of an answer, Ren intervened.

"There was a new species of grimm spotted on the outskirts of Vale. It had claws and apparently it attacked several people."

"That sounds horrible." Blake showed slight sympathy.

"Exactly. Our efforts to capture one ended up with failure. However..." Ren, suddenly, was out of ideas.

"...However, Professor Ozpin said we'll continue to monitor the monster and eventually catch it!" Pyrrha finished his thought. For some reason, she was always quick to finish the lies Team JNPR piled up on themselves.

"... I see. Well, if you need any help, my team can assist you in these missions."

"I think we'll be fine on our own! I mean, we ARE a very wide cast of characters!" Nora turned to look at Ren, the ninja, Pyrrha, the idol, and... Jaune?

Stepping back inside of their dorm after finishing their conversation with Blake, they realized something. Reko was missing from Jaune's bed! They suddenly found him rummaging through their food, before stopping to stare at the team.

"... Welcome back?"

"We never left." Ren pulled up a seat, as did the rest of Team JNPR. Reko stopped eating their snacks and joined them at the table.

"I suppose you guys want answers."

"Of course we want answers! Who are you? Why were you after Roman? Where-"

"Where's your claws?" Pyrrha interrupted Nora, which surprised Reko. They carried his claws in a pouch on their way back to Beacon, which they laid at the foot of Jaune's bed. It was now open, and missing the weapons.

Reko stood up, and faced his palms outwards. With a quick flick of his wrist, his palms now facing downwards, his claws suddenly slipped out of the cuffs of his arms and into his hands!

"Interested? I designed them myself. When I put them away, each blade of the claw surrounds my wrist. Almost like a brace. I can use it to defend myself from attacks!" Jaune looked interested. Surely Ruby would have been excited to see such a unique design of weaponry.

"And that's not all. I can turn my claws into shortswords." He proceeded to do so, with each blade stacking on top of each other to extend the end of the blade.

"Oh, and one more-"

"Okay, enough!" Nora was losing her patience. She slammed the table and Reko immediately silenced himself.

"Enough showing off, you little twerp! Tell us what you were doing!" Reko looked at the team, and they all had the same expression on their face. Defeated, Reko sat back down.

"...Alright." Reko brushed his black and orange hair aside.

"You know how Roman is a big contributor to the White Fang, right?"

"Correct," Ren replied.

"Well, he's been enlisting the help of helpless and weak faunus into his ranks, sending them into battle when they have no idea what they're doing."

"You think that Roman's enlisting civilians?"

"Well, he's always been doing that, right? I mean, not just civilians. Civilians who've never fought a day in their lives."

"I thought the White Fang train their members." Ren sat back.

"Well, they do. But the ones who don't learn fast enough..."

"...Die in battle," Jaune finished. The team looked at him, then at Reko.

"I want to stop Roman in his tracks. It's cruel for him to use the faunus in such a way!"

"That makes sense, but that doesn't mean you should branch out on your own. You need your team!"

"That reminds me..." Jaune stood up.

"Where is your team?" The question echoed through Reko's mind. He took a moment to breathe, before hearing knocking at the team's door.

"Crap!- I mean- Who is it?"

"... Jaune?" The voice sounded sweet, soft and light. No doubt it was Ruby Rose herself. Reko, in shock, hid under Jaune's bed.

"Reko!"

"Okay, look, I'll explain later. Just... Get her to leave!" They tried to pull Reko out from under the bed, but he let out a slight roar and suddenly, the team backed off.

"What a weird kid." They opened the door and let the red haired girl in.

"Hey guys! Whatcha up to?" She walked around the dorm, never noticing the fact that the boys and girls rooms were seperate.

"I kinda forgot you guys were a coed team."

"Yeah, it's cool isn't it?! I mean, I get to enjoy the company of both Pyrrha and Ren!" Nora replied. Suddenly, Jaune felt left out.

"Ahem." Ruby turned around, and saw Ren in front of her.

"Not that I don't enjoy your company, Ruby, but what are you doing here?"

"Oh! Right! I was wondering if you guys wanted to go get dinner with my team and I! I hear there's tacos in the dining hall." Her mouth started watering.

"That sounds wonderful! However, we've decided to just cook dinner here tonight."

"Well, that works too! Would it be alright if we ate here tonight then?"

 _Forgive me, Ruby. I don't mean to push you away like this._

"I must respectfully decline. We only have enough ingredients for the four of us. Maybe next time?" Ruby began to look down. Ren knew he upset her, and had to do something.

"Uhm, well, actually, I..." Ren was flustered, and eventually Jaune stepped in to help.

"Ruby! I heard there's pudding downstairs!"

"Pudding?" Ruby started to look back up.

"Pudding!"

"Yup! Nora's been wanting some pudding for awhile now. How about you and her go to the dining hall to get some?" Although Nora was excited for pudding, she felt like she was the scapegoat for Ruby to leave.

"Oh man, I want pudding! Nora, let's go!"

"Okay!" Nora gave her goodbyes to the team, which included a hug for Pyrrha, a kiss on the cheek for Ren, and a punch in the groin for Jaune for making her leave.

With Nora gone, Ren decided to finish cooking dinner for everybody. Reko came out from under the bed, and gave a sigh of relief.

"She's a weird one. Like a little kid."

"You're one to speak!" Pyrrha chuckled. Jaune leaned against the door as Reko stood up.

"Well, thank you all for letting me stay here, but I really shouldn't be here."

"That's right, you have to go back to your own dorm!" Jaune replied.

"No! That's not it. Look..."

"My team abandoned me."

"What?"

"They thought my idea of going after Roman was too crazy for them to go along with."

"So you're telling me, that not only are- were- you the leader of your team, but you were also kicked from it?"

"Yeah. So I've been sleeping either on the couch or in the trees at night." Reko looked down. Although Pyrrha sensed a fault in his story, Jaune felt nothing but sympathy.

"A-anyways, thank you all for everything, but I have to leave." He began walking towards the door, with Jaune still leaning in front of it. Suddenly, Reko felt uneasy, and almost hit the floor if it wasn't for Ren to catch him.

"I advise against that. After your battle with Roman, we can tell you have alot of internal bleeding. Your aura depleted as soon as Roman's blast hit you. You need to rest for a couple of days, at least."

"A couple of days?" Reko looked around.

"No."

"What do you-"

"You guys don't have to nurture me back to health. I'm fine on my own." He pushes Ren away and tries to walk again, however he eventually falls to his knees. Ren and Pyrrha help him up.

"No one knows that you're here, besides Professor Ozpin." The name made Reko flinch, however he gave no reaction after.

"We lied, and told him you were an outsider."

"Look, I know we've just recently met, but you need to trust us." Jaune extended his hand toward Reko.

Reko, taking deep breaths, finally caved to the team's hospitality.

"Okay, but only for a few days."

"That's the spirit." Jaune helped Reko sit down. As he sat, Ren returned to the kitchen before calling out to Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha, could you get Nora back here? Dinner is almost ready."

Nora quickly returned to the dorm, and they all shared a meal together. That night, Reko slept under Jaune's bed, because he had felt so oddly comfortable there. His hood had slipped off during his sleep, although he didn't pay any mind to it.

For the first time in a while, Reko felt the comfort of his friends surrounding him as he warmed up to them.


End file.
